BHUBANESWAR: Odisha known for its intricate weaves and traditional handloom saris that are quite unique for their technique of weaving, motifs, colours, embellishments and the overall ethnic look.
Many celebrities from India and abroad have proudly wrapped these elegant Odisha’s handwoven saris from the heads of the states like Indira Gandhi, Pratibha Patil, Megawati Sukarnaputri of Indonesia, Sonia Gandhi to popular cultural icons and celebrities like Taslima Nasreen, Pratibha Ray, Asha Bhonsle, Shabana Azmi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vidya Balan and the list goes on.
The famed tie-and-dye silk sari is in the news again, not for a good reason though.
Biswanath Meher, a national award-winning weaver who won a national award for his innovative artistic creation of weaving ‘Maa’ in 13 different languages on a sari, is ‘hurt’ and ‘pained’ after a Sonepur based businessman Rabi Meher allegedly claimed that the sari has been designed by the latter.
Meher said he is going to lodge a plagiarism case against the businessman for making false claims.
“I have no objection if any other weaver weaves the same design that I did years ago.
But it really hurts and upset me when someone else is taking the credit for my work.
As a weaver when I designed a new pattern I conceived the look of the sari before a single thread was placed.
So to discredit someone for his work and claim it to be their own is unfair,” said 42-year-old Meher.
Biswanath said, after winning a state award for his sari on the theme of ‘environment protection’, he felt motivated and thought of doing something unique that could fetch him an award at the national level.
“When I thought of competing at the national level I consulted Prafulla Meher, a junior weaving supervisor.
It was his idea to weave ‘Maa’ in different Indian languages to attract the attention of all jury members and people of other states.
And it got a national award,” Biswanath added.
He received an award from Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Madras University Chennai on the occasion of the first Handlooms Day on August 7, 2015.
However, Rabi Meher denied the allegations and said it was his original idea.
“During lockdown this idea struck me.
I did not know if any other weaver had done it earlier and got a national award for it.
We have been weaving hundreds of innovative designs and this is one of them.
If a new design strikes me and I feel it will be liked by customers, we weave it.
I don’t think anyone should have a problem in this.” Researcher and culture enthusiast Anita Sabat said “Itbis unethical for anyone to claim undue credit or appropriate another’s work.
This is happening in the age of social media when all the real people associated with the creation are present.
Original creator must get due recognition and those making false claims must be punished.”